Nail



March 26, 1935. A. J. DEmSTON, JR 1,995,705

NAIL

Filed April 2l, 1935 /194//7/4 ,MAQ c [77 yezefor Patented Mar. 26, 19351,995,705

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE NAIL Albert J. Deniston, Jr., Chicago, Ill.

Application April 21, 1933, Serial No. 667,172

3 Claims. (Cl. 85-28) This invention relates to the construction offorms they will not be separate and substantially roofs and walls and toa means. for fastening the entire area of the head of the nail will beroofing or wall members, and covering and sheathsealed in Contact withthe sheathing.

ing members in particular, in p1ace.` My invention is illustrated moreor less dia- 5 It has for one object to provide a roof coveringgrammatcally in the accomnalfiyiney drawing, 5

formed of sheets of material, corrugated or otherwherein: wise shaped,and held in place upon purlins or Figure 1 iS a 10r1gitudinal SeCtiOn 0fa nail, other members by means of fastening nails which Showing One form0f my Sealing head; penetrate the roofing and enter the structuralFigure 2 iS a Similar View, Showing a modimember. iied form; 10

Another object is to provide in connection with Figure 3 iS a SimilarVieW, Showing a further a fastener a sealing means so that the holeformed InOdlCatiOn; by the fastener is sea1ed and made water tight.Figure 4 is a Sectional view through the sheath- Another object is toprovide means in connection ing and Structural member, Showing a nail inwith the fastener for protecting the area about plaee. 15 the hole toprevent inltration of water, and, if Like parts are designated by likeCharacters the roong or other member is of metal, to prethroughout thespecioation and drawing. vent rusting or corrosion in the area about theA indicates the shank of a nail. A1 is the hole. driving head of thenail. The two are preferably Other objects will appear from time to timein made integral and at the point where they join 204 the specificationand claims. there may be a curved or flattened fillet A2. The

In one form shown, the structure is formed of sealing head, Which may be0f lead and Should a purlin or other structural member to which be ofsome material softer than that of the nail, corrugated metallicsheathing is applied. This iS DOStGned about the Shank and largelybemay, of course, be for a wall or a roof or any other neath the head ofthe nail and may 0r may not 25 enclosing or partitioning member. Suchstrucbe DOSitiOned S0 that the nail head protrudeS tures have one commonuse, as roofs and for exor extends above it as at A3 in Figure 2. teriorwalls, and the necessity of preventing leak- The lead head iS formed 0fa generally flat age through the hole made by the fastener and Dertien Blying beneath the nail head. At 0r for preventing rust or othercorrosion of the metal near its outer edge it has a downwardly de- 30sheathing member is important. pending flared skirt B1. Towards itscenter it is In the arrangement shown, the nail, or other provided withan inclined, downwardly extendfastener, which may itself be of almostany suiting DOItiOn 1?2 Which jOinS a narrOW and re1- able form, isprovided with a driving head and atively thin DOrtiOn B3 Which mergesWith the with a sealing head, the two preferably joined shank of thenail. 35 together so that they have the appearance of, In Figure 2 thenail itself is preferably the and are, in eifect,asingle head. Thedriving head same in form as the nail shown in Figure 1.

is preferably made integral with the body of the The lead or sealinghead which has a depending nail and the sealing head is of a softermaterial and outwardly flared skirt like that shown in and is positionedabout the shank of the nail and Figure 1, may be made so that the areaof the 40 about and preferably largely beneath the driving lead head isno greater than the area of the drivhead of the nail. The sealing headmay be of such ing head and thus the driving head extends shape thatwhen the nail is driven and it comes across the entire top ofthecomposite nail. This in contact with the metallic or other sheathingconstruction is shown in Figure 2, in which the material, a portion ofthe sealing head penetrates sealing head is formed with a generally natpor- 45 into the hole through the sheathing and seals it tion C, adownwardly depending andoutwardly at that point and another portion ofthe sealing flared skirt portion C1 and a downwardly dehead contacts thesheathing and makes a sealing pending tapered portion C2 which liesagainst contact with it to protect an area about the hole the shank A.

I which is considerably greater than the area of the Figure 3 shows aslight further modification 50 hole so that there are thus made twoseals, an in which the sealing head is essentially the same inner sealat and within the hole, and an outer as that shown in Figure 2, exceptthat the skirt seal away from the hole. In some forms these portion C1is `raised along its outer edge so that two seals will be separate andthere will be an it covers the edge of the driving head as at C3.

unsealed, annular space between them. In other In Figure 4 the nail ofFigure 1 is shown in 55 position and when so driven into position, inordinary practice, the upper surface of the lead head and the drivinghead may be substantially the same in any of the forms shown. As shown,a portion of the sheathing D has curled or been forced inwardly aboutthe hole as at D1 and there has thus been formed a tapered or funnellikedepression D2 into which the metal of the portions B2 and B3 of the leadhead have been forced so that this portion of the lead head fills andseals the perforations through the sheathing. The skirt portion Bl isshown as resting against and making sealing contact with the sheathingat a point away from the hole so that this area is also covered andsealed. This feature is of particular importance when galvanizedsheathing is used because in making the hole or driving the nail thebending of the metal may crack away some of the galvanizing and it isimportant that this area be protected from rusting and corrosion andthis result is accomplished as shown in Figure 4. The nail projectinginto the purlin or other structural member D3 holds the sheathing inposition. As the nail is driven home, a portion of the lead of thesealing head may ow through the hole in the sheathing and form arelatively small, more or less annular section B4 which lies between theshank of the nail and the inwardly bent portions D2 of the sheathing.

It will be realized that whereas I have herewith shown and described apractical operative device, nevertheless many changes might be made inthe size, shape, number and disposition of parts without departing fromthe spirit of my invention and I wish, therefore, that my showing betaken as in a sense diagrammatic. In particular, while I have shown asmooth nail, the invention may be applied to a barbed nail, to a twistednail, to a screw and to a driving screw and in fact it may be applied toalmost any form of holding or attaching member, whether the latter isproperly to be considered as a nail or a screw or a combination of them,and where in the specification and claims I have used the word nail Iintend that it shall include in its meaning any and all such attachingor fastening parts.

Although I have shown only three modifications of an outwardly anddownwardly flaring skirt portion for the sealing head, it is obviousthat a great variety of changes in the shape, inclination, disposition,thickness and other features of this sealing head and its skirt may bemade, and that these are within the contemplation of my invention, whichis not limited to the three forms shown.

The use and operation of my invention are as follows:

When the roofs, walls or partitions of this invention are to be made,one or more structural members such as the member D3 are put intoposition and the sheathing is applied to the structure so formed. Thesheathing may be of any nature but is generally metallic and usually inthe form of galvanized and corrugated sheets. These will be perforatedeither by the use of some tool or directly by the nail as it is driven.However perforated and wherever the perforations may be located, oncethey have been formed the nail is driven through until its head comesinto sealing contact to seal the perforation, as shown particularly inFigure 4. With the nail in the form shown in Figure 2, where the sealinghead is distinctly below the upper level of the nail or driving head,the initial driving blows are struck entirely upon the head of the nailproper and not upon the sealing head and thus there is no danger ofdeforming or destroying or in any way injuring the sealing head. As thenailing progresses the sealing head comes in contact with the sheathingand flows and is driven into the perforation and comes into contact withthe sheathing as shown particularly in Figure 4. As this driving iscarried on the entire sealing head may be somewhat changed in shape sothat the nail head may be driven more or less down into it. No contactof the hammer with the sealing head which may occur at this stage of thedriving is damaging because the sealing head has already come intocontact with the upper surface of the sheathing and has been properlyspaced and positioned with respect to the perforation so that when thenail is driven finally home, whether or not it may be driven so far asto sink more or less into the softer metal of the sealing head, thelatter will not be displaced or broken. Thus by this construction asatisfactory nail is produced and yet the relatively soft and moreeasily distorted or broken sealing head is protected from the blows ofthe hammer during the early stages of driving and is only liable to bestruck by the hammer during the final driving home when this contact ofthe hammer with the sealing head cannot damage it.

In the forms of the nail such as those shown in Figures 1 and 3, aportion at least of the sealing head is on a level with the uppersurface of the driving head, and some contact of the hammer with thesealing head at this point may occur. Since, however, the nail headproper is at least as high as the sealing head, the nail head proper, ordriving head, will receive the major portion of the driving force andthe sealing head will not be damaged or displaced.

Depending upon the size of the perforation, the size of the nail and theforce with which it is driven home, some of the lead may actuallypenetrate between the walls of the perforation and the shank of thenail, as shown at B4 in Figure 4. The seal of the perforation at thispoint will be complete, whether or not this occurs, but under somecircumstances the lead will be driven or carried into the perforation sothat between the walls of the perforation and the shank of the nailthere is formed a thin annular body of the sealing material and whenthis takes place, the perforation is thus sealed from end to en'd andthe nail itself may not be in contact with the walls of the perforationat any point.

I claim:

l. In combination in a nail, a shank and an integral laterally extendingdriving head, an integral thickened llet-like portion about the shankand against the head, joining the two, and a sealing head of materialsofter than the driving head, permanently fixed to the shank, positionedabout it and beneath the driving head, the sealing head provided with adownwardly depending, tapered portion in contact with the shank andoverlying the fillet-like portion of the shank and head, the sealinghead being provided with a downwardly depending, outwardly flaring,peripheral skirt portion, the latter being shorter than the firstmentioned downwardly depending portion of the sealing head.

2. In combination in a nail, a shank and an integral laterally extendingdriving head, an integral thickened fillet-like portion about the shankand against the head, joining the two, and

a sealing head of material softer than the driving head, permanentlyfixed to the shank, positioned about it and beneath the driving head,the sealing head provided with a downwardly depending, tapered portionin contact with the shank, the lower surface of said downwardlydepending portion being of approximately the same contour as the undersurface of the nail head, the sealing head being provided with adownwardly depending, outwardly flaring, peripheral skirtportion, thelatter being shorter than the first mentioned downwardly dependingportion of the sealing head.

3. In combination in a nail, a shank, an integral laterally extendingdriving head, an integral thickened fillet-like portion about the shankand against the head, joining the two, and a sealing head of materialsofter than the driving head, permanently fixed to the shank, positionedabout it and beneath the driving head, the sealing head provided with a.downwardly depending, tapered portion in contact with the shank, thelower surface of said downwardly depending portion being ofapproximately the same contour as the under surface of the nail head,the sealing head being provided with a. downwardly depending, outwardlyflaring, peripheral skirt portion, the latter being shorter than thefirst mentioned downwardly depending portion of the sealing head, theupper surface of the driving head forming the top of the nail, wherebythe sealing head is shielded from hammer blows and injury to the sealinghead is prevented.

' ALBERT J. DENISTON, JR.

